Mar 1, 2022, 6:35 am
Last edit by: CKDGM
Passport Agency Appointments (same day expedited service)
Appointments for same-day expedited service often go quickly. It is best that you schedule your appointment with the passport agency exactly 14 days before your trip. You will want to call the passport number before the center opens at 8am EST as they will have just opened up one day (14 days out) of appointments at all agencies. Appointment times start at 8am. It is important that you have enough buffer in your travel schedule. For example, if you make an appointment for a new passport at 11am and your time of travel is at 2pm, there will not be enough time for you to get your passport. If you book the 8am slot you may have to wait until the end of the business day to get your new passport or it may only be a few hours.
You will want to have your date of travel, time of travel, your flight itinerary number, name of destination, full name of applicant, and applicant's birth city, and the zip code of where you live (to help them find the closest available center with open slots). Use the following steps to increase your chances of success to booking an appointment as they can go very quickly:
Credit: chgoeditor
Known office locator numbers (not complete)
Note: The office code (first two digits of your application locator number returned by Passport Status) is the office reviewing your documents and approving your application. It isn't necessarily the address you mailed the forms to (always Irving or Philadelphia for renewals) nor the facility where the book is physically printed and mailed (often Tucson or Hot Springs).
10: Boston
11: NYC
12: Honolulu
14: Stamford, CT
15: Portsmouth, NH
17: Aurora, CO
18: Chicago
19: Washington, DC
20-29: Portsmouth, NH
34-39: Charleston
40-42: New Orleans, LA
45: Portsmouth, NH
50: Los Angeles, CA
51: Miami
53: Seattle
54: Minneapolis
55: Dallas
56: Detroit
57: San Francisco
58: Philadelphia, PA
61-64: Tucson
65: Hot Springs, AR
67: San Juan, PR
68: Portsmouth, NH
69: Portsmouth, NH
71: US embassies/consulates abroad (possibly Portsmouth, NH)
74: Atlanta
75: St Albans, VT
76: San Diego, CA
77: Buffalo, NY
78: El Paso, TX
79: Houston, TX
80: Special Issuance Agency ("Issues diplomatic, official, service, and no-fee regular passports, and facilitates visa processing for those traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.")
95: Online
A list of agencies and their locator numbers is listed on this page under the heading, "List of passport agencies and centers with locator numbers."
H/T Nayef, txviking, and various individual posts both here and on Reddit. If you have a locator not in the above list, check the return address agency name or postmark/ZIP on your returned citizenship docs, or passport card if you applied for one, which may be the processing office, although the address itself is likely to be a PO Box in Sterling, VA in all cases (which appears to be a lockbox location that processes mail for all locations). The passport books are printed in fewer locations, often Hot Springs and Tucson, and may not correspond to the agency where the processing steps occurred. If it doesn’t match the list above, please add or correct.
Appointments for same-day expedited service often go quickly. It is best that you schedule your appointment with the passport agency exactly 14 days before your trip. You will want to call the passport number before the center opens at 8am EST as they will have just opened up one day (14 days out) of appointments at all agencies. Appointment times start at 8am. It is important that you have enough buffer in your travel schedule. For example, if you make an appointment for a new passport at 11am and your time of travel is at 2pm, there will not be enough time for you to get your passport. If you book the 8am slot you may have to wait until the end of the business day to get your new passport or it may only be a few hours.
You will want to have your date of travel, time of travel, your flight itinerary number, name of destination, full name of applicant, and applicant's birth city, and the zip code of where you live (to help them find the closest available center with open slots). Use the following steps to increase your chances of success to booking an appointment as they can go very quickly:
- 14 days before your trip, you need to schedule an appointment with the passport agency.
- At 7:55 am call the passport number 877-487-2778 (This have to be exactly 14 days before your plane ticket or less. If less, it will get harder to find an appointment)
- Click 1 (For English)
- Click 2 (New Passport)
- Continue to Click 7 to repeat, and keep doing this while watching your watch or using Time.gov to get the exact time down to the second.
- When your it hits exactly 8:00 am Click 2 (for traveling within 14 days option)
- There will be a delay of 3-4 second and you will wait for the next available agent. If you are very lucky, you will be put straight through to an agent. You may be waiting few minutes or maybe as long as 15-20 minutes.
- If you did not click 1 exactly at 8 am, you may have to wait for more than an hour and half
Credit: chgoeditor
Known office locator numbers (not complete)
Note: The office code (first two digits of your application locator number returned by Passport Status) is the office reviewing your documents and approving your application. It isn't necessarily the address you mailed the forms to (always Irving or Philadelphia for renewals) nor the facility where the book is physically printed and mailed (often Tucson or Hot Springs).
10: Boston
11: NYC
12: Honolulu
14: Stamford, CT
15: Portsmouth, NH
17: Aurora, CO
18: Chicago
19: Washington, DC
20-29: Portsmouth, NH
34-39: Charleston
40-42: New Orleans, LA
45: Portsmouth, NH
50: Los Angeles, CA
51: Miami
53: Seattle
54: Minneapolis
55: Dallas
56: Detroit
57: San Francisco
58: Philadelphia, PA
61-64: Tucson
65: Hot Springs, AR
67: San Juan, PR
68: Portsmouth, NH
69: Portsmouth, NH
71: US embassies/consulates abroad (possibly Portsmouth, NH)
74: Atlanta
75: St Albans, VT
76: San Diego, CA
77: Buffalo, NY
78: El Paso, TX
79: Houston, TX
80: Special Issuance Agency ("Issues diplomatic, official, service, and no-fee regular passports, and facilitates visa processing for those traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.")
95: Online
A list of agencies and their locator numbers is listed on this page under the heading, "List of passport agencies and centers with locator numbers."
H/T Nayef, txviking, and various individual posts both here and on Reddit. If you have a locator not in the above list, check the return address agency name or postmark/ZIP on your returned citizenship docs, or passport card if you applied for one, which may be the processing office, although the address itself is likely to be a PO Box in Sterling, VA in all cases (which appears to be a lockbox location that processes mail for all locations). The passport books are printed in fewer locations, often Hot Springs and Tucson, and may not correspond to the agency where the processing steps occurred. If it doesn’t match the list above, please add or correct.
Current US passport wait? (Merged Threads)
Apr 4, 2020, 5:18 am
#496
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Seems just to be sloppy reporting by CNN. The passport agency's website (updated yesterday) says that the life and death emergencies only apply for in person processing. Although expedited processing is suspended, routine service is only delayed, not suspended.
https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...ort/renew.html
https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...ort/renew.html
Passport applications being accepted is not the same thing as issuing passports for applicants without documented “life and death emergency” accompanying the passport application.
Received passport applications without such emergency being documented end up in the file of applications set to the side for now and not to be processed for issuing a passport until some time in the future.
Apr 5, 2020, 6:45 am
#497
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 222
It’s not sloppy reporting. It’s accurate, even as my words in that post were sloppy. Passport application acceptance is distinct from issuing passports.
Passport applications being accepted is not the same thing as issuing passports for applicants without documented “life and death emergency” accompanying the passport application.
Received passport applications without such emergency being documented end up in the file of applications set to the side for now and not to be processed for issuing a passport until some time in the future.
Passport applications being accepted is not the same thing as issuing passports for applicants without documented “life and death emergency” accompanying the passport application.
Received passport applications without such emergency being documented end up in the file of applications set to the side for now and not to be processed for issuing a passport until some time in the future.
Apr 5, 2020, 9:42 am
#498
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
It’s not an interpretation. It’s a fact of how passport processing is currently being handled. Any new applications sent this month and received Friday without any such emergency indication affixed to them means the application is to be sidelined and not processed for issuing currently. And what went on Friday is also what will happen this coming week too.
Apr 5, 2020, 11:34 am
#499
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Here is the exact wording of what State posted on Friday. Note that non-emergencies should expect "significant" delays and people ought to consider "waiting to apply." In government speak, this can be read as that State is not likely to address your request (and return your docs) until after the crisis abates. Putting the pieces together, recent reporting had State designating passport processors as "essential" and had them working at a facility in close-in cubicles with no special cleaning in effect. The light apparently went on that this was not a good thing and this Guidance follows.
Because of public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, effective March 20, 2020, we are only able to offer in-person service at passport agencies or centers for customers with a qualified life-or-death emergency and who need a passport for immediate international travel within 72 hours. Learn more below to see if you qualify for a life-or-death emergency appointment.
While you can still apply in person for a U.S. passport at some acceptance facilities and renew through the mail, you should expect significant delays receiving your passport and your citizenship evidence documents. Please consider waiting to apply until we resume normal operations. We suspended expedited service on March 19 and are not offering this service to any applicants.
What If I Applied Before March 20?
If you applied and requested expedited service on or before March 19, 2020, we made every effort to meet our commitment of 2-3 weeks door-to-door service. However, due to limited staff, we are still working on a small portion of incomplete expedited applications submitted on or before March 19. You may experience additional delays.
If you applied and requested routine service on or before March 19, 2020, you should expect significant delays receiving your passport and your citizenship evidence documents.
If you received a letter from us requesting additional documents or information to process your passport application, you may mail your response to the address in the letter. We are able to receive mail at this time. Expect significant processing delays.
Because of public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, effective March 20, 2020, we are only able to offer in-person service at passport agencies or centers for customers with a qualified life-or-death emergency and who need a passport for immediate international travel within 72 hours. Learn more below to see if you qualify for a life-or-death emergency appointment.
While you can still apply in person for a U.S. passport at some acceptance facilities and renew through the mail, you should expect significant delays receiving your passport and your citizenship evidence documents. Please consider waiting to apply until we resume normal operations. We suspended expedited service on March 19 and are not offering this service to any applicants.
What If I Applied Before March 20?
If you applied and requested expedited service on or before March 19, 2020, we made every effort to meet our commitment of 2-3 weeks door-to-door service. However, due to limited staff, we are still working on a small portion of incomplete expedited applications submitted on or before March 19. You may experience additional delays.
If you applied and requested routine service on or before March 19, 2020, you should expect significant delays receiving your passport and your citizenship evidence documents.
If you received a letter from us requesting additional documents or information to process your passport application, you may mail your response to the address in the letter. We are able to receive mail at this time. Expect significant processing delays.
Apr 6, 2020, 1:54 am
#500
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 580
This terrifies me as I have the bad luck of my passport expiring in March of next year. What is the best course of action to not get stuck, considering that there is a chance that the crisis may last for a while?
Is there any way to request a second passport (a two year passport) such as one that is used to visit countries that do not have the best relations with each other without sending in my current passport (thus not knowing when I will receive it back again)? Is there any hope with any of the renewal expediter services that are still advertising online?
Is there any way to request a second passport (a two year passport) such as one that is used to visit countries that do not have the best relations with each other without sending in my current passport (thus not knowing when I will receive it back again)? Is there any hope with any of the renewal expediter services that are still advertising online?
Apr 6, 2020, 11:59 am
#501
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 336
It’s not an interpretation. It’s a fact of how passport processing is currently being handled. Any new applications sent this month and received Friday without any such emergency indication affixed to them means the application is to be sidelined and not processed for issuing currently. And what went on Friday is also what will happen this coming week too.
3/19 USPS delivered my renewal application to the Philly passport processing center
3/19 State Dept passport status website shows that they received the application
no updates...
4/06 passport card showed up in my mailbox today
still no updates on the status page... so I guess they are just not updating it for now?
Last edited by Vangrovsky; Apr 6, 2020 at 12:37 pm
Apr 6, 2020, 12:38 pm
#502
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I sent renewal application for both passport book(about to expire) and passport card(expired last year)
3/19 USPS delivered my renewal application to the Philly passport processing center
3/19 State Dept passport status website shows that they received the application
no updates...
4/06 passport card showed up in my mailbox today
still no updates on the status page... so I guess they are just not updating it for now?
3/19 USPS delivered my renewal application to the Philly passport processing center
3/19 State Dept passport status website shows that they received the application
no updates...
4/06 passport card showed up in my mailbox today
still no updates on the status page... so I guess they are just not updating it for now?
Updating the status for that purpose (there or elsewhere) has never been 100% complete and accurate.
Apr 6, 2020, 1:03 pm
#503
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 336
Your application was sent and noted as sent before the change in policy and practice would have prevented a received non-emergency passport application from ordinarily resulting in a passport being issued for the applicant.
Updating the status for that purpose (there or elsewhere) has never been 100% complete and accurate.
Updating the status for that purpose (there or elsewhere) has never been 100% complete and accurate.
worst case, I can get a boat and sail to a foreign country and sail back. I have a friend who's been living on his boat for the last 3 weeks to avoid contact with anybody... (in Chesapeake Bay)
Although... are passport cards valid if you're on a private boat? or is it just for cruise ships?
Apr 9, 2020, 2:11 am
#505
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: FRA
Posts: 229
Mine expires in March [EDIT] 2021 too, and I live abroad! My kid's passport expires in August this year, but she's a dual national and has another to rely on that is valid until August 2020, plus they are issuing passports here still, I think.
I will have to email the consulate and ask what I ought to do, though I have 2-3 months anyway until the 6-month rule would be violated. Plus, travel is really not on the table.
I will have to email the consulate and ask what I ought to do, though I have 2-3 months anyway until the 6-month rule would be violated. Plus, travel is really not on the table.
Last edited by cafeconleche; Apr 14, 2020 at 4:31 am
Apr 9, 2020, 4:58 am
#506
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Mine expires in March 2020 too, and I live abroad! My kid's passport expires in August this year, but she's a dual national and has another to rely on that is valid until August 2020, plus they are issuing passports here still, I think.
I will have to email the consulate and ask what I ought to do, though I have 2-3 months anyway until the 6-month rule would be violated. Plus, travel is really not on the table.
I will have to email the consulate and ask what I ought to do, though I have 2-3 months anyway until the 6-month rule would be violated. Plus, travel is really not on the table.
Apr 14, 2020, 7:01 am
#508
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
I would not be terrified in the least. That is 11 months away and I am certain that in the interim, either passport issuance will have been restored or all cross-border traffic will have been suspended and having a passport won't matter.
Apr 15, 2020, 12:00 am
#509
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 347
Current turnaround time for (US) passport renewal? [MERGED]
Apr 15, 2020, 12:59 am
#510
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: HNL
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 236